Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLOS) was founded in 2000 by biomedical scientists Harold E. Varmus, Patrick O. Brown and Michael Eisen for the purpose of granting open access to the public about scientific research papers. An open letter was sent to scientific publishers encouraging them to all distribution of their research literature through an on-line publication like the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central. In response to a less than receptive response, PLOS launched a nonprofit scientific and medical publishing venture in 2003. PLOS articles are available free on-line and appear immediately on the web site for no charge. PLOS received start-up funds from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundations and has received various other foundation endowments for their not for profit enterprise.

Wolves in Canada, lions in the Serengeti or fishermen in the Southern Ocean, either hunt alone keeping the spoils to themselves or in packs sharing the bounty with others. Deciding whether to tell fellow predators about some ...

A resilient dietary strategy balancing reliable wetland plants and "riskier" seasonal grasses may have driven adoption of the sedentary lifestyle which later became typical of Neolithic humans, according to a study published ...

Humans living in South Africa in the Middle Stone Age may have used advanced heating techniques to produce silcrete blades, according to a study published October 19, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Anne Delagnes ...

Grauer's gorilla, which is confined to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is now Critically Endangered, according to a study published October 19, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Andrew Plumptre from Wildlife ...

Detection dogs – working dogs trained to use their noses to find substances like drugs or explosives – have also found work in wildlife conservation. Such scat-detecting dogs are valuable tools for collecting fecal samples ...

Scientific literacy – what it is, how to recognize it, and how to help people achieve it through educational efforts, remains a difficult topic. The latest attempt to inform the conversation is a recent National Academy ...

What we are putting in our mouths and on our plates is globally gaining recognition as the key to unlocking a healthier, more sustainable, and fairer future. What we eat, how we're eating it and the journey that it takes ...

We tend to think of famine in human terms. But animal populations also experience wide-spread hunger, and the hundreds of emaciated young seals and sea lions stranded on California beaches in the past year were a poignant ...